General Mills donates $735K to research soil health

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Dive Brief:

The National Wheat Foundation and the Soil Health Partnership will use the funds during the next three years on research and education outreach to more than 125,000 wheat farmers across the Northern and Southern Plains.

This latest donation brings General Mill’s recent investment in soil health practices to close to $3 million.

While the investment may not generate immediate dividends, it could pay off in the long-term for General Mills. In addition to knowing it's helping the environment, General Mills may have early access to the findings that come from the research it's helped fund. In addition, if the food manufacturer buys wheat from any of the 125,000 farmers benefiting from the research, they can reap the reward for having environmentally friendly ingredients from suppliers perceived as better stewards of land.

General Mills produces a wide variety of products that use wheat, such as its Gold Medal flour, Pillsbury crescent rolls, and Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese. As altruistic as the investment may be, it also has a vested interest in helping farmers produce quality wheat in a manner that will be sustainable for years to come considering how important the commodity is for some of its products.

This is not to diminish the sizable contributions General Mills has made and continues to make in soil research. This latest donation brings General Mill’s recent investment in soil health practices to close to $3 million. These contributions are a reflection of the manufacturer’s philosophy that it needs to invest in the recourses it relies on so heavily.

General Mills is not alone in this corporate belief system. Cargill and Walmart teamed up with the food manufacturer last year to announce a partnership to research ways to improve soil health and water quality on farms. It would appear these food manufacturers know that they need healthy soil to keep a healthy bottom line. It would not be a surprise to see other food manufactures invest in better production and sustainable practices for other commodities they depend on such as cocoa, coffee or coconut.